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JOHN LEGEND
GET LIFTED |
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| | Reviews: 39 |
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| Average Rating: 8.51 |
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John Legend is "Alright" with me
by J. Highsmith Mitchellville, Maryland United States
Reviewed on January 21st, 2005
While Kanye West was comin' up with "College Dropout", John Legend was featured throughout the CD and he was also on other Kanye West produced collaborations such as "This Way" which featured Dilated Peoples & Kanye and "Selfish" which featured Slum Village & Kanye. Since John Legend was always singing parts in the songs and choruses on others, I wasn't sure what his actual style would be once he came out with his own CD. When Usher & Kanye West came to Baltimore, I saw them live in concert and John Legend came out and played a piano intro to "Jesus Walks" and then he started singing "I'll Fly Away", an interlude from "College Dropout". From then on, I figured that John Legend would be a Neo Soul artist.
I finally heard "Used To Love Me" and then I knew that what I thought was confirmed as Kanye had hooked John Legend up with a nice beat and John Legend definitely had a Neo Soul sound to his singing style. My roomate received a John Legend sampler while he was up at Howard University and the sampler featured "Ordinary People". After listening to that song many times, I knew that I would pick up John Legend's CD once the CD was released. "Get Lifted" was originally supposed to come out in October but the CD didn't actually come out until December 28th.
"Get Lifted" gets off to a nice start. After the John Legend piano intro, Kanye West blesses John Legend with "Let's Get Lifted". To anyone who thought that "Used To Love Me" would be the only hit on his debut CD, they will definitely be silenced after hearing "Let's Get Lifted". Although, many artists have traveled the Neo Soul path, the music behind your vocals is important. "Let's Get Lifted" is simply an introduction to let you know that John Legend is going to be around for awhile. "Alright" is produced by Kanye and John Legend and the song is basically talking about a woman that is approaching John and he states regardless of your situation if you want something to go down that is "Alright" with him, especially since he likes what he sees and him being tipsy isn't helping the sitaution either. "Number One" features Kanye and the song is talking about that although he may have been foul in the past, John is still trying to make this woman his #1. Kanye uses a Curtis Mayfield sample and "Number One" ends up being a pretty good track. John Legend then takes a trip to "church" with Snoop Dogg talk about how they can change for a particular woman on "I Can Change". Once Snoop finishes his rap, if you close your eyes you may actually think that you're in a church. "Ordinary People" sounds as if this will be the next single. John Legend simply plays the piano a la Alicia Keys and just speaks from his heart. There is nothing wrong with that because although some people may think the song is real simple. If the song makes sense and you can relate to what John is saying then everything is cool. "Stay With You" sounds like something that could have been made in the 70s. The track has an old school feel to it and the track ends up being one of my favorites on "Get Lifted".
However, my favorite track on this CD has to be "So High". Sometimes, you just hear a song that gives you "butterflies" because the song is well written and put together real well. Whether you like John Legend or not, "So High" is worth the price of the CD, trust me. John Legend is assisted by his family on the inspirational "It Don't Have To Change". You can tell why John has so much talent, because every family member that joins John on the track has talented vocals. "Get Lifted" finishes off just right with the feel good track, "Live It Up" w/Miri Ben-Ari. Intsead of following the trend by talking about everything that is negative in the world, John Legend tries to uplift us with some positivity.
With "Get Lifted", John Legend proves to us that although Neo Soul route has been traveled before, if you have talent and the right people behind you then you can succeed. "Get Lifted" is a very well rounded CD and if you are a fan of Neo Soul music or r&b music in general then this CD is a must buy for you. Thank John Legend for a job well done with "Get Lifted".
1) So High
2) Ordinary People
3) Used To Love U
4) Let's Get Lifted
5) Stay With You
More "Get Lifted" reviews:
[2005-01-23] Get Lifted - John Legend (10)
[2005-01-22] In a real drought of soul music. Cd does the trick. (6)
[2005-01-21] John Legend is "Alright" with me (10)
[2005-01-21] John Legend is a LEGEND (10)
[2005-01-21] Excellent Debut (10)
[2005-01-21] Rehashed, Ripped Off Stax & Hi Records Era Psuedo-Soul (2)
[2005-01-20] A Breath Of Fresh Air (10)
[2005-01-20] Marvelous-Remarkable-Incredible-MindBlowing (10)
[2005-01-20] R&B Worth Remembering (10)
[2005-01-19] Im stunned (4)
[2005-01-19] Living it Up and Loving Every Moment (10)
[2005-01-19] Too long of a wait (8)
[2005-01-16] Real Music (8)
[2005-01-16] Back In The Day When Music Was Good... (10)
[2005-01-15] A Stylish, Soulful, and Subtle Debut (10)
[2005-01-15] /Wow...What a Birthday Gift!!! (10)
[2005-01-14] Let's not get Carried away here (4)
[2005-01-13] JOHN LEGEND IS THE MAN......BEAUTIFUL VOICE!! :) (10)
[2005-01-13] An Uplifting Debut (10)
[2005-01-13] The Best In A Long Time! (10)
[2005-01-12] I have been waiting for this CD release since October.... (10)
[2005-01-12] John Legend is the Sh** (8)
[2005-01-12] dont miss out on a great album !!! (10)
[2005-01-12] Except for Weird Production Values, an Easy 5-Star Release (8)
[2005-01-11] Thank You John Legend (10)
[2005-01-11] MAXWELL & D'ANGELO AIN'T WORKIN'? GET LIFTED (10)
[2005-01-11] An R&B Classic (10)
[2005-01-10] 3.5 Promising, but uneven R&B debut (6)
[2005-01-10] Not uplifted by 'Get Lifted' (4)
[2005-01-10] Consider this a more remarkable album w/ a postive feel 2 it (10)
[2005-01-10] The "Lift" Wasn't Working (2)
[2005-01-10] OFF THE HOOK! (10)
[2005-01-10] LOVE AT FIRST LISTEN (10)
[2005-01-09] Amazing is one word to describe this stunning debut (10)
[2005-01-09] Mind blowingly perfect (10)
[2005-01-09] average (2)
[2005-01-09] WOW!!!!!!! John legend is Gifted (10)
[2005-01-08] WHAT! THE LYRICS ARE TIGHT! (10)
[2005-01-08] Close your eyes and bob your head! (10)
Displaying reviews from 1 to 39
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